178 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 193. 



The sales to manufacturers amounted to 4,426,525 pounds, and to 

 dealers, 29,970,239 pounds, a total for both manufacturers and dealers 

 of 34,396,764 pounds for the period. Of this total, 19,813,071 pounds 

 went to the State of New York alone, and 4,723,015 pounds went to 

 Pennsylvania. The remainder, approximately one-third, was distributed 

 rather generally over the other states east of the Mississippi River and in 

 some states west of it. 



For the four quarters ending March 31, 1917, the sales of unstemmed 

 leaf tobacco from the Connecticut valley to dealers and manufacturers in 

 the same and other districts amounted to 30,368,117 pounds, or about 

 12 per cent less than for the four quarters ending March 31, 1916. 



One reason for the wide distribution of Connecticut valley cigar leaf 

 tobacco is the great demand for wrapper leaf of a superior quality. The 

 other cigar leaf producing states are mainly producers of either the binder 

 or the filler type of leaf, inferior in wrapper quality. The imported 

 Sumatra is the only cigar leaf wrapper competing with the Connecticut 

 valley leaf in this country, and the imports of this have fallen off since 

 1914. 



Table 22(a) . — Sales of Unstemmed Leaf Tobacco by Farmers in the 

 Connecticut Valley, 1915-19, by Quarters. 



During the four quarters ending March 31, 1916, the total purchases 

 of unstemmed leaf tobacco from farmers in the Connecticut valley 

 amounted to 27,520,409 pounds, and for the four quarters ending March 

 31, 1917, to 27,716,686 pounds. The largest purchases were made from 

 January to March, amounting to nearly one-half the total purchases. 

 The next largest purchases were from April to June, and the smallest 

 amounts were purchased during the quarter from July to September. 



The above data show in a general way the breadth of the market for 

 New England-grown tobacco. The demand in the different sections varies 

 from year to year, and the extent to which New England tobacco fills the 

 demand also fluctuates seasonally, depending, of course, upon the quan- 

 tity of first-class tobacco produced. The market always demands wrapper 

 leaf of the quality grown in the Connecticut and Housatonic valleys. 

 When, however, there is an exceptionally large yield of light wrappers 

 of fine quality, for example, the manufacturer who uses light wrappers 



